Tuesday, September 29, 2015
Tezuka's Doors
For me, the two most compelling pages of Tezuka's The Mysterious Underground Men were the splash pages on pgs 9 and 148 featuring doors. The first page appears directly before the character of Mimio is introduced and the second is featured as Mimio dies. I believe that the first door serves as a visual metaphor that allows the reader to enter into the story while the second door, which appears to be closing, ushers the reader out. The first door completely transitions the story from what I would consider the prologue (the death of Young John's Father) to the beginning of the body of the plot. The second door provides a jarring shift of perspective from the bedside of Mimio to outside the room watching John say his goodbye. The shift reminds the reader of his or her isolation from the characters to which he or she has become attached. This effect amplifies the readers emotional response to the death of a loved character.
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I too, found the two most compelling pages in Tezuka's comic to be the splash pages depicting doors. I also agree with your interpretations of these doors as ushering the audience in and out of the story. It seems that Tezuka uses imagery, especially in his splash pages, to represent mental or sensational experiences beyond that which comic images usually elicit. As a result, the reader is meant to engage more actively with the comic book's content--instead of just reading the text and browsing the images, the audience is now responsible for interpreting the artistic decisions, such as the depiction of doors or the inclusion of negative space. In this way, Tezuku's comic art paralleled the work of many "New Realist" artists, who also demanded an increase in viewer participation.
ReplyDeleteMatt and Cian -- I agree with you both that the doors at the beginning and end of the story bring out an emotional response from the reader. The fact that both doors follow two deaths that highly affected John further demonstrate that these pages serve as visual cues for a particular sensory experience. I also think that find the sheer size of the doors on both pages rather evocative. The first door that says "Surgery Room" is rather ominous, though, and makes us wonder what is behind it. Whereas the second door says "The End" and hides half of what is behind the door. Lastly, I think it was clever of Tezuka to use doors in these parts of the novel because they're such simple ways for the reader to know what is the beginning and end.
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